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Well, they aren't ending up with either of those guys. This years WR group for the draft also doesn't have a bonafide #1 guy available. There are guys who excel at a handful of things but aren't quite the total package just yet. Doesn't mean they can't develop into that, but right off the bat, there aren't really any pass catchers that are gonna come in and set the league on fire in 2019. I said this in another thread, I don't think the Bills end up with a "true #1" WR next season. I think they end up with a group of guys who all have certain skill sets and a couple of traits which they're really good at and kind of average with all the rest. Think about where Daboll comes from... New England, where they never really had a top-flight receiver aside from the few years where they had Randy Moss. Besides him, it's always been a rotating group of receivers (with one constant like Wes Welker or Julian Edelman) Gronk and whoever their #2 TE is and their cast of running backs. Those are the types guys that have been catching passes from Brady for 19 seasons now. I think just with the way things are shaping up with the draft and free agency that the Bills will try to put together a strong overall cast of offensive playmakers as opposed to having one or two superstars. You'll have guys like Foster and McKenzie as your speed options, Zay as your possession guy who can run some tough routes inside and keep the chains moving, they probably want a guy *like* KB, someone with that size and the ability to win contested catches (which KB has not done since he got here). I also think Daboll may pound the table for a new option at tight end because of the extensive use of TEs in New England's system over the years. I like Charles Clay but I think his knees are shot and I wouldn't doubt if they cut him loose this off-season. Jason Croom seems to be developing but the position can be upgraded and it may be something they look into. But yeah, the hope for a big-time #1 guy like Julio, OBJ, AJ Green, etc. I don't see that happening for the Bills in 2019.

That can be said about any player, that there's no guarantee, no sure bets, etc. It applies to all players. Edmunds may have different responsibilities than Vander Esch at this point as well, who knows? We don't, cause we ain't at practice and we ain't in the huddle. And I think Edmunds will get better because of the skills he already has and the situation he is in. McDermott knows how to coach up LBs and DBs. They probably haven't quite thrown everything at him just yet but by the end of the season I'm sure they'll be saying there wasn't a lot that they didn't assign to him. Edmunds has the work ethic to go along with the athletic talent as well. Some guys come into the league and figure they can coast on athleticism alone and don't bother to do their homework. That's not Edmunds. He'll be fine. Vander Esch will probably be fine as well. Both guys look like they're poised to have nice careers.

These hindsight posts are getting ridiculous. Just because another player in the same draft had a good game doesn't mean the player your team picked is all of a sudden unworthy of the draft slot he was selected in. Vander Esch made a few flash plays last night. Edmunds has had his own share of big plays as well. Edmunds is still also only 20 years old and handling a ton of responsibilities on defense already. He's only gonna get better. He has the higher ceiling and more athletic talent. Both guys are probably going to be good, solid players for the next 10 years in this league.

Guess it would depend on if the Tampa Bay organization wants to tear it all down and start over or if they think they can still compete with a different coaching staff and much of the same roster. Evans also just signed a 5-year $82 million dollar deal earlier this year. I'd assume he's there for the foreseeable future.

I'm not advocating for him being brought in here but it's been clear that McBeane does like to work with guys they've had a previous experience with.

I'm pretty much down with whatever the organization wants to do at this point. I'm all in on Allen. There's just something about the confidence and ease with which he approaches the position. If he can put it all together he can be really good. It's encouraging to see what he's done so far but I think once they get him some more weapons we'll maybe see him turn a major corner. Kid has never played with stars. Surrounded by one and two-star recruits at Wyoming and so far he's been surrounded by a solid running back, a former first round receiver who doesn't know how to reach his potential, a second round receiver who is working his tail off but is still struggling to separate/be seen on the field, and then a handful of late round and undrafted guys as well as an OL that had too much tinkering done to it during the summer. They definitely have some work to do on offense, no doubt. I don't necessarily think they need a superstar pass-catcher, either. I actually think they're going to end up with a group of guys who will all have one or two specific skills they excel at while being average at the other things a WR does. Like, Foster and McKenzie will be the speed guys that'll take the top off a defense but neither one will likely ever run tough inside routes against man coverage because they get knocked off the line too easily. Zay will be the possession guy.. everyone seems to think he can be some slot superstar but I read recently that a lot of his best plays have come when he's lined up outside so maybe they wanna do that more with him. And hopefully they find another guy that has the size like KB but has the desire to go with it. I think they'll want a well-rounded group to give Allen a variety of options and give Daboll a variety of ways to scheme and plan. Daboll comes from NE where they never had a big time WR (aside from Moss). It's always been a rotating cast of whoever they have at receiver, Gronk and their TE2 and their backs. Wouldn't surprise me to see a similar set up here.

Can't see OBJ buying into what they wanna do here. He's a diva that's prone to sideline and locker room temper tantrums if the ball isn't coming his way every third play. Tyrell Williams of the Chargers is gonna be a name to watch in free agency. Big target, faster than KB, stronger hands, etc. Don't forget Devin Funchess in Carolina, either.

Yeah, they may not contribute immediately but they'll at least be playing right off the bat and getting experience. I mean, there are some skill position guys that are coming up that could surprise, N'Keal Harry is a rising name and DK Metcalf from Ole Miss just declared and his skill set might actually propel him to be one of the first, if not the first, receiver taken. There are also a handful of strong tight ends in this group and with Daboll being a former TE coach and having worked with Gronk, he may pound the table to bring in a super athletic TE. Noah Fant of Iowa is seen as the top TE right now. RB is a down group this year. There's no Elliots or Gurleys in this class, probably not even a late first rounder. I gotta think they grab a guy to develop this year. Maybe in round 3 or 4, because I can't see them rolling into 2019 with just Shady and Ivory just because both guys hit age 31 in 2019. And they don't seem to be as thrilled with Marcus Murphy as they used to be. So... yeah, in a year where offensive skill positions are a B+ group at best, here's our Bills with needs at every offensive skill position besides QB, lol. But, I like the way this FO has done their jobs so far and expect this off-season to be pretty exciting.

I actually don't think this front office will be too keen on spending high round picks on OL. Beane said it himself during a pre-season game, the learning curve for even more experienced OL prospects is huge these days because these guys all play in schemes where they rarely ever line up with their hand in the dirt. They have to learn a whole other facet of their position once they reach the NFL and it takes quite a while to coach that. I can see them going OL in rounds two or three but I don't think they'll spend their first round pick on OL. If they end up with a top ten pick, I'd bet money that they'll be taking calls all day from any teams looking to come up. The offensive prospects this year aren't the greatest so the value on those players is gonna be in rounds two and three. So I can see Beane trying to stockpile a handful of twos, threes and even some fours if the offer is there. Ideally, I think they'd like to spend some of that cash on a couple of guys with experience who can step in and produce right away. I know the FA crop for OL also isn't great but I think they'd rather find a guy or two that way rather than having to wait it out and develop a guy. They're all in on this youth movement so I'd expect their first round pick to be a guy they feel can start right away or isn't that far away from being a day one starter. Don't be surprised at all if a defensive player is their first pick. If they're sticking to BPA, it's likely gonna be a defensive player that'll be BPA when it's their turn in round one.

Not really, usually just to check the schedule and any player transactions as they do those infographics any time they bring in a new guy. The BBMB was a daily stop for me going all the way back to 2002. They switched message board providers/service in 2004 which, if I recall, caused some grief with the posters at that point. When they got rid of the BBMB they said that fan interaction would shift to social media but any time I scroll through comment sections on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, it's mostly just people shouting random stuff and no real conversations or interactions going on. The board always provided a good place for fans to come together and (usually) have civil discussions about all things Bills. I don't think social media comment sections have done very good in replacing that. This board was fairly active while the BBMB was still around but it received a huge boom in new posters migrating from BBMB and for the most part, it's replaced the BBMB almost in full. I'm sure there aren't as many posters here as there was on BBMB but overall, it's been a viable replacement.

I think they interviewed Reich after Marrone left but at that time he didn't quite have the experience he has now. I think at that point (early 2015) he had only been an OC for one year with previous experience as a QB and WRs coach. And I think at the time, many fans were all over the Pegulas for being "homers" and "nostalgic for the glory days" when they interviewed Reich. But, you know, hindsight and all that. McDermott is constantly lauded as getting a lot out of a little. Made the playoffs last year with an average roster. Has this current group playing well over the last couple weeks despite the blowouts and tough losses. He's still getting this team to show up everyday and put in the work when guys could easily start mailing it in because they know the chances of returning to the playoffs this year are slim. And this league has consistently tweaked the rules to favor the offense, that plays a huge role in these high-powered offenses we see right now. And let's not act like this is the first time we've ever seen teams score crazy points like this. Rams had the Greatest Show on Turf back in the early 2000s, the 2007 Pats put up crazy numbers, there was a 15-1 Vikings team that set offensive records (late 90s, I think). Plus, teams like the Chiefs, Rams and Saints have a few things: strong OLs and Pro Bowlers at every just about every skill position. But, as always, there are ebbs and flows in the league, which is also a copycat league. Teams will adopt what other teams do both on offense and defense. And sooner or later, defenses always catch up. A decade ago the Wildcat took the league by storm and everyone was all, "It's a new NFL!" but what happened? Eventually defenses caught up and the Wildcat faded away. There's always new trends that come up and eventually there's always an answer to those trends.

I think McBeane have likely determined that these guys have a job here for as long as they'd like. They can keep doing one-year deals if these guys wanna keep playing. In addition to their on-field production, I'm certain McDermott views their experience and leadership as invaluable to his locker room. If they finish the season trending upward, I think both guys would have an interest in coming back for one more go 'round to see where they can go in 2019 with the youth movement that will have some experience under their belts by then.

But have you heard of Darcell Mareus?

I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to go a different direction and I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to stay the course with Crossman. He may have an out with all the punter injuries this season as well as Taiwan Jones, a ST captain, going on IR earlier this year. McKenzie looks like he can provide a spark in the return game, but when it comes to return coverage, that's where they haven't been very good. But again, wouldn't be surprised if they left things as they are and allowed Crossman to stay on and keep working.

Edmunds also played outside most of his college career, so, like McDermott has said about Allen and managing expectations, we should do the same with Edmunds as he's adjusting to a different position as well as the speed of the game at the NFL level. McDermott has a knack for coaching up DBs and LBs, I think the kid will be fine.

Offensive line is supposedly his specialty, but their starting left tackle (Cam Robinson) went on IR early this season. And yesterday, the LG, (Andrew Norwell) went down with an injury. The left side of their line is headed up by Ereck "Turnstile" Flowers at LT and undrafted kid at LG. Fournette has been in and out of the lineup and they lean so heavily on him that they're basically a different team when he's not playing.Also, the whole team seems undisciplined to me, which is weird for a Marrone-coached team. He's a stickler for rules and all that crap. I remember him benching Dareus a couple times because the dude could never be on time. But the way he ran the locker room here in Buffalo left a lot of veteran guys with a poor perception of him. He tried running things as if it were a college program and that stuff isn't gonna fly. So, I dunno if he backed off on being a stickler and is allowing the team to be themselves but I feel like that team could be down 42-0 and the defense would still be talking trash and instigating. And then there's Bortles. Didn't Marrone hire Hackett to be his OC as soon as he was named head coach?

I didn't necessarily mean yesterday in particular, haha. They did indeed get shredded on the ground and Fournette is a straight up dummy for instigating and getting himself kicked out. The crowd response was awesome and the defense's response was even better. To have them go from the one yard line, get stuffed on a couple run attempts, Bortles gets sacked, then have penalties that back them all the way to the 25 yard line and then they miss the field goal was a thing of beauty.

Lawson has been playing well even if he's not showing up in a big way on the stat sheet every week. His versatility to bounce between DE and DT is big for this team. He's very sound in his assignments, he's been getting more pressure on the QB, plays the run well, etc. He's played well enough to retain the starting job over Murphy who was healthy and active this week and was only in there after Lawson was ejected.

Ha, there's those "obviously's" that were sorely missing from his comments back on Wednesday last week.

He's awesome, no doubt. The only receivers to have moderate success against him this year have been Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins, and even then those guys didn't rack up a ton of yards and receptions. Hopkins made a wicked catch for a TD and Adams scored on him as well but other than that, he's shut down pretty much everyone they've asked him to cover this year. You don't hear his name mentioned much during games which is a good thing for a CB, means QBs aren't even trying to throw his way. I hope they can coach up this Wallace kid and have him be the #2 CB. Eh, I think it's more than him and Peterson. Marshon Lattimore in New Orleans, Xavier Rhodes in Minnesota, Ramsey and Bouye in Jacksonville, Harris in Denver is still getting it done, etc. Lot of good corners playing right now and I think White is right there with the best of them.

It's a part of his game the Jaguars obviously weren't keyed in on so he exploited that. Even after he picked up first downs and chunks of yards, they still really weren't putting a spy on him. If it's there, take it. Yeah, sure, we don't want the kid getting hit frequently and risking another injury but he's an athlete and running is part of his game. A couple of his runs were by design, not all of them were scrambles. Kid throws for a TD, runs for another, picks up several first downs with his feet (also hit two perfect throws for first downs that were called by back dumb OL penalties) and accounts for 259 total yards and didn't turn the ball over... yet here we are with people saying, "Get yards, score points, but do it THIS WAY." He got the job done today, plain and simple.

For real. I think Walt Coleman needs to hang it up. That game was ridiculous with the penalties. Some of them deserve to be called, others not so much. My main hang up was that every friggin' time they threw a flag they needed to huddle up for a 5 minute discussion. And then he'd go to announce the penalty but another official would be like, "Wait, wait, and then this happened and then number 35 called me a poopyhead." Even the commentary team was getting annoyed with the constant flags.

Thanks to everyone who responded, appreciate it. Murphy is kind of puzzling to me... he went 47th overall in 2014 out of Stanford and for all the "injury prone" labels he gets, he actually only missed two games over his first three seasons. Racks up 9 sacks in 2016, was a top ten pass rusher in terms of QB pressures, looked like he was poised to break out and then he wrecks his knee and misses all of 2017. Missed OTAs, camp and pre-season, plays in 7 games before getting hurt again, has been on the sidelines for four weeks but only missed three games. I know he had the PED thing as well, makes you wonder if he was taking something to strengthen himself against injury or whatever. Obviously players are signed/given deals based on their on-field production but there are off-field things that factor in. With Murphy, you can tell they brought him in here because he embodies the work ethic McDermott wants out of his players. I'm sure he sets a good example on the practice field when he's on it but yeah, hopefully they didn't end up buying a lemon here because a DL of Murphy, Hughes, Williams, Lotulelei ain't bad especially when the rotational guys are Lawson, H. Phillips, J. Phillips, and Yarbrough. Jordan Phillips is a guy I'd like to see them hang onto after the season, I think he's been a nice surprise and he's been energized for a fresh start here. However, this lineup wouldn't stop me from drafting one of these premier DL players coming up if the board falls that way. Adding more strength to an already strong group is never a bad idea. And Carolina did that when Beane was still there. They had a pretty stellar DL in 2015 (their Super Bowl run) and still drafted a DL in the first round in 2016. The draft is just so packed with really defensive players this year that it's difficult to see them NOT going defense early, simply because the value for offensive skill players won't be there until late into the first. Feels like we could see something similar to what they did in 2017 when they dropped all the way to 27th overall and still came away with a great #1 CB in Tre' White.

I searched around online and combed through the pre-game thread for the Bills/Jags game but haven't seen any info on Murphy. Just saw that Lawson and Clay weren't practicing today. Lawson has played pretty well in the DL rotation and he provides versatility in that he can switch up between DT and DE so even if Murphy is back, I'd still make sure Lawson gets some reps. Yeah, anyway, anyone know what's up with Murphy?

Greedy Williams is currently seen as the near-consensus top cornerback. He'd pair up nicely with Tre and they'd be on the same page instantly having been LSU teammates. As for what I would do or what I think McBeane may do... if they end up with a top ten pick, I can see them trading down to acquire more capital ONLY IF a premier player isn't on the board when it's their turn. If one of those top-end DL are still hanging around when they pick at 5, 6, 7, wherever, I'd take one of those guys. So far, every big board of the top 50 or 100 prospects I've checked out is like, 75% defensive players. It's an insanely good year if you're looking to add to your defense... it's not so good if you're trying to build on offense. There are a few top-notch OL but even those guys need time to adapt to the NFL game just because of the offensive styles they're playing in school. Jonah Williams makes a lot of sense given he would have a head start having played for Daboll before. There aren't any clear cut elite QBs, same with receivers... Noah Fant out of Iowa looks like a baller but do you spend a high end pick on a tight end? I don't see this front office prioritizing the TE position that highly. RBs can be found in the mid-rounds... so... don't be surprised if they go defense early and look for a good value on offense in the second or third rounds. Ideally, I think they'd like to trade down in the first round and collect some more picks in the second and third rounds where the it makes sense to spend on offense. I see them working hard in FA to solidify the offense, which makes sense. Sure, you wanna build thru the draft but with the time it takes to develop young offensive skill position players, it makes sense to try and get some guys in here that already have pro experience. And adding to an already strong unit (defense) is a good strategy as it provides really good depth and the ability to keep guys fresh with their rotations. It's gonna be an interesting off-season.